Page 93 - Fishery_Regimes_2005

EMPAFISH Booklet nº 2 Fishery regimes in Atlanto-Mediterranean European MPAs

Description of the fishing gears

Handline The fish are attracted by a natural or artificial bait
(lures) placed on a hook fixed to the end of a line or
snood, on which they get caught.*

Longline A fishing gear in which short lines carrying hooks are
attached to a longer main line at regular intervals.
Longlines are laid on the bottom or suspended
horizontally at a predetermined depth with the help
of surface floats. The main lines can be as long as
150 km and have several thousand hooks (e.g. in
tuna fisheries).*
Trawling Towed net consisting of a cone-shaped body, closed
by a bag or cod end and extended at the opening by
wings. It can be towed by one or two boats and,
according to the type, are used on the bottom or in
midwater (pelagic). In certain cases, as in trawling
for shrimp or flatfish, the trawler can be specially
rigged with outriggers to tow up to four trawls at the
same time (double rigging).*

Pole-and-line A fishing technique in which surface schooling fish
are attracted to the vessel and driven into very
active feeding behavior by throwing live or dead bait
into the water and spraying water onto the sea
surface to simulate the escape behavior of small
preys. The fish lured with a line and a hook attached
to a pole and pulled off the water by manual or
powered devices. This fishing method is used
worldwide to capture surface-swimming tuna such as
yellowfin and skipjack.*

Gill net Single vertical nylon netting walls that catches fish
by gilling. As fish attempt to swin through the mesh
of the net, they become snagged by their sill
opperculi, fins or scales.#

Trammel net Bottom-set net made with three walls of netting, the
two outer walls being of a larger mesh size than the
loosely hung inner netting panel. The fish get
entangled in the inner small meshed wall after
passing through the outer wall.*

Purse seine Nets characterised by the use of a purse line at the
bottom of the net. The purse line enables the net to
be closed like a purse and thus retain all the fish
caught. The purse seines, which may be very large,
are operated by one or two boats. The most usual
case is a purse seine operated by a single boat, with
or without an auxiliary skiff.*

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